Paul turned on Athena as soon as they entered the hallway. She didn't even flinch at the angry expression on his face.
"I found your little secret." He taunted.
Athena frowned at him and tried to play dumb. "Oh? And what is that?" She mocked. Paul growled at her. "Those. . .things! You knew one was on the ship!" He accused. 'More than one.' Athena thought to herself but didn't voice it. She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "No, I didn't." She lied. Paul snarled at her. "You knew one was here and you knew they existed!" He accused.
Athena realized her dilemma.
Celtic wanted her to blame him. He wanted her to escape while he took the fall. Her and the others as well. Maybe he held some responsibility for Weyland's death, but definitely not all of it! Not even a half of it! He was already dying and was going to die down there for a surety, whether he wanted to admit it or not. And it wasn't even Celtic that killed him in the end, it was. . .
She didn't even know who was responsible for his death, now that she thought about it.
Athena had a choice to make. Celtic gave her and the others an opportunity to fix some of this situation and she realized that to not take it would make his sacrifice in vain.
Athena sighed as she made her choice. She chose to tell the truth. . . Mostly.
"I knew they existed." She replied. "I didn't know they were on the boat." She folded her arms as Paul stared at her. "You're lying." He hissed. Athena scowled at him. "What? You think you would have believed me if I had just outright admitted to their existence?" She snapped. Paul remained silent for too long and that's when Athena realized what was wrong. "You knew they existed!" She exclaimed. Paul's lips tilted into a guilty frown and Athena shoved him backwards against the wall. Paul shoved her hands off of him and stood up straighter. "What? You think you would have believed me if I had just outright admitted to their existence?" He mocked. Athena's lips pulled back in a snarl and Paul took a step back. "It's too late anyway." He threw out. "Your little friend is locked away for now." "He's not my friend." Athena growled, though her heart gave a painful jolt to remindher how untrue that was. Paul smirked at her. "Oh really? Then why were you trying so hard to hide his existence from me?" He taunted.
There was silence for several minutes. Athena's mind was trying to wrack up an excuse for his accusation when a realization of a loophole dawned on her.
"Because. . ." She softly said. "He's the one who killed the beast that murdered your father. . ."
Now it was Paul's turn to be stunned into silence. "What?" He asked, disbelief not hidden in his tone. Athena exhaled a breath before continuing. "You knew about the humanoid's existence, but did you know about the other ones? The ones that these humanoids have come to earth just to hunt for?" She asked. Paul didn't bother hiding the skeptical look on his face. "If you're covering up for them agai-" He was interrupted as Athena bent down and reached into her bag. She came back up later with a curious object in hand.
The severed tail of the first bug alien she killed.
Paul stared as she held it out to him. "Here's the proof." She softly said. Paul took the object delicately in his hands and examined it. "What is it?" He demanded, turning it every angle. Athena bit her lip. "It's a tail tip. . ." She admitted. Paul rose an eyebrow at her and Athena pointed at it. "The second creature doesn't look anything like a human. It was hive-minded with a giant queen controlling them. Lex, Lucinda and I were lucky to escape from it with our lives."
Paul weighed the object in his hands and pressed his thumbs on the intricate ridges. "And you said. . .the tail belonging to this creature is the one that killed my father?"
Athena nodded and Paul's fists clenched around the object. "I'll be keeping this." He stated, leaving no room for argument. Athena shrugged. "Go ahead and have it. Just don't put the blame on the wrong person." "Or wrongthing." Paul added as he turned and walked away.
Although she was relieved that some of the truth had been revealed, Athena had a feeling that this battle was far from over.
Celtic was woken up by the sound of a slamming door.
He lifted his head and looked up with a wince as a current of electricity shocked his arms. He held perfectly still as the ooman he currently despised the most walked up to the bars of his cell. The human was tossing a black object in his hands, but Celtic couldn't tell what it was.
Paul was silent for several seconds before sighing and finally speaking.
"Athena says you're the one who killed the beast that murdered my father." He spoke, not looking up. Celtic tilted his head at him as the mask Lucinda had left with him translated Paul's words. 'Athena blamed the kiande amedha?' He thought. Paul looked up and gave him a hard stare.
"I'll say thank you for killing the beast. . .but I know for a damn fact that you had something to do with it being there in the first place!"
Paul slammed a fist on the bars of the cage, but Celtic didn't even flinch. "Mark my words!" Paul seethed. "I'll make you pay for his death! One way or the other!"
Paul turned and left the cell while Celtic was left to ponder what the hell "mark my words" meant.
Paul's room was dark and depressing when he made the call.
His phone was lit up and he had taken a picture of the tail Athena had handed over before dialing a number he had hoped he'd never have to see again. On the third ring, a sweet operator voice asked him his reason for calling. "You didn't tell me that there was a second freak that existed!" Paul snapped, cutting right to the chase.
The operator voice no longer sounded sweet and sugary as it changed to a tone of seriousness.
"That wasn't what you needed to kno-" "Needed to know?!" Paul snapped. "I didn't need to know about those humanoid monsters either and yet you told me!" "We told you on the possibility that you would run into them on this trip." The lady on the other end replied. "Why this trip?" Paul griped. "You said they show up in areas with heavy conflict, this trip had none to start and yet they were the ones that caused the conflict in the end!" The lady on the other end sighed. "No, but we had a feeling that this pyramid that your father discovered had some sort of connection to them. A connection that they might have wanted to protect or destroy once it had resurfaced."
Both were silent for several seconds before Paul sighed. "What is the second creature?" He demanded.
"We don't know." The woman replied. "We know more about the humanoids than we do about any other alien creature." Paul licked his lips. "I have a picture of the creature's tail." He admitted. The lady on the other end was stunned into silence before her voice held a hint of excitement when she next spoke. "Send it to us. we may be able to identify it." She demanded.
Paul clicked some buttons and the picture was sent off. Her response was immediate. "Do you have this tail piece?" She asked. "Yes." Paul replied. "I'll bring it with me when we meet at the docks." "And the humanoid?" She asked.
"Locked away and waiting for your arrival." Paul answered. "Excellent." She responded. "Make sure no one interacts with it. These things can go two days before needing a meal. Make sure he gets the bare minimum. We do not want human error giving him an opportunity to escape."
"Believe me." Paul replied. "He wont."
Author's note: Translation time:
-Kiande amedha: Hard meat
-ooman: human
Hello faithful readers!
This is your late New Years gift, so happy new years! Love you all and thank you for reading! Also, please comment your thoughts on the chapter. Some of you may not know this, but author's prefer your commentary over votes and followings any day. Do not be afraid to bombard us with long comments, or even personal messages about the story. We enjoy reading for a reason, and appreciate it when you take the time to give us a lengthy reply back on the chapter or story as a whole.
Thank you!
Also, to all of my readers out there, where did you all come from? Seriously, within the last three weeks ya'll suddenly jumped in here. Did do some sort of advertisement that I'm not aware of? Or somebody you all know mentioned this fanfiction so you all decided to check it out? Let me know please.
Thank you again!